236 ESSENTIALS OF BACTERIOLOGY 



Sterilization of Hands, etc. It has been shown by elaborate 

 experiments that the skin, the hair, and clothing harbor many 

 bacteria, some of a pathogenic nature. The surgeon who is 

 anxious to secure good results should carefully attend to his 

 toilet; the use of operating gowns, rubber gloves, operating 

 shoes, face guards is now universal. The toilet of the hands 

 of the surgeon is as important as that of the field of operation, 

 but with the use of rubber gloves the painstaking directions as 

 to the employment of a half-dozen or more cleansing agents 

 and germicides are no longer followed. 



Soap is an efficient germicide, the lye being in most cases 

 powerful enough to prevent the growth of germs. 



Filtration. In the laboratory and on a larger scale in the 

 management of water-works, filtration is a method of steriliza- 

 tion, acting as it does by mechanically separating bacteria 

 from a solution. 



